Early in the history of orthodontics, doctors constructed their own appliances to treat patients. As the specialty grew, the orthodontic supply company became economically feasible. At first, all orthodontic brackets (braces), whether produced by the doctor or supply company, were designed simply as handles to which the force-producing agents, (most often archwires), were attached. Both the magnitudes and directions of orthodontic forces were controlled by placing appropriate bends in the archwires. See, for example, FIGS. 1 and 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,128.
The next major evolutionary step in appliance design was the "straight wire" concept. See, for example, FIGS. 2 and 4-19 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,477,128. Force magnitudes were still determined by wire and not the brackets. However, force vector directions were transferred from the wire to the brackets. Bracket slots were cut so that the desired forces were applied to each tooth in the arch by simply attaching (fully ligating) a straight length of wire with rectangular cross-section into the bracket slots. Futhermore, different bracket base thicknesses were employed to control labial-lingual dental positioning. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,660,900. These developments reduced considerably the amount of wire bending, and therefore, the doctor's chairtime required to treat a case. While such systems are generally considered to represent the state-of-the-art today, there remains a major disadvantage in the treatment mechanics of these products.
In the current "straight wire" systems, of which there are several, all bracket force vectors for specific tooth types (e.g., upper cuspids, upper central incisors, lower first molars, etc.) are manufactured to population averages. Thus, there is no individual adaptability in any given straight wire system. The patient's specific pretreatment malocclusion (condition requiring treatment), dental surface morphology, and facial type are completely disregarded. So, for that matter, are individualized treatment goals. It is well known, however, that these factors influence the selection of ideal mechanical parameters for every case. An orthodontic appliance placement method featuring parameters which are individualized is therefore a significant advance in the art over the present practice. The method of the present invention is utilized to provide for such appliance placement.